Titans Host Northridge

IN A NUTSHELL: The Titans (9-15, 5-6) host Cal State Northridge (9-14, 6-4) in their only game of the week, seeking a split of the season series. Northridge has won the last three years in Titan Gym. Fullerton's 7-year win streak at Northridge ended in an 89-65 loss on Jan. 15.

AUDIO: Most Titan games can be heard live on the internet. Listeners may access the CSF Athletics home page at www.fullertontitans.com and follow the links. Mike Martinez is the usual play-by-play announcer.

VIDEO: ALL non-televised Big West Conference home games can be viewed on computers via BigWest subscription TV. Fullerton's Feb. 26 home game vs. Cal Poly SLO has been moved to 8 p.m. to accommodate an ESPNU national telecast.

LAST GAME: The Titans saw their 4-game home-court winning streak snapped in a 70-69 loss on Saturday to UC Riverside. Kevin Bradshaw's dunk with 3.8 seconds left was the game winner after Devon Peltier had put Fullerton ahead, 69-68, with a pair of free throws at 1:19. UCR rode Phil Martin's 26 points to a series split. UCR had a run of 16-0 (11 in a row by Martin) in the first half and 10-0 in the second half to erase Fullerton's biggest leads of each period -- 22-13 in the first half and 52-44 in the second. After the last UCR spurt, there were 11 lead changes and two ties in the final 9 minutes.

THE COACH: Bob Burton is 132-107 in his eighth season at Cal State Fullerton and career. He has the most victories at the Div. I level and trails only Alex Omalev (139-176 in 12 years) all-time. Burton's winning percentage of .552 trails only Bobby Dye (.583, 109-78). He is 13-6 vs. Cal State Northridge including 3-4 in Titan Gym.

ABOUT THE MATADORS: Cal State Northridge (9-14, 6-4) has won five of its last seven games starting with an 89-65 home win over Fullerton on Jan. 15. The statistical leader is Lenny Daniel (16.1 ppg, 9.3 rpg) followed closely by Rashaun McLemore (15.8 g, 4.2 rpg). The Matadors shoot only 33 percent from the 3-point arc but they made 8 of 16 in the first meeting with the Titans.

SERIES HISTORY: CSF leads it, 35-27, but the Matadors won handily in the previous meeting this season, 89-65, on Jan. 15 at CSUN. In each of the past three seasons, the visiting team had won.

FRIENDLY CONFINES: Under Bob Burton, the Titans are 69-32 (.683) in Titan Gym including 35-4 (.897) in non-conference games. Fullerton had won its last 13 and 32 of the last 33 home non-conference games prior to the Dec. 22 loss to Montana. Fullerton's all-time Div. I Titan Gym record is 294-166 (.639). Fullerton also is 1-8 in regular season home games at the Anaheim Convention Center.

ROAD STRUGGLES: Under Bob Burton, the Titans had made dramatic strides as a road team before this year's 2-12 effort. They are 60-64 (.484) away from Titan Gym (includes 11-15 on neutral floors) from 2004-05 through the present. For the previous 10 seasons (1994-95 thru 2003-04) the combined road record was 30-115 (.207). With a 3-11 mark in his first season (2003-04), Burton's total CSF road record is 63-75 (.457).

BIG WEST COIN DRIVE: The fourth annual Big West Coin Drive has returned to the nine conference campuses throughout the month of February as each school's Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) collects coins and donates the funds to charity. Each school will donate three-fourths of its collection to its designated charity and the other 25 percent to the winning institution's charity. Cal Poly was the top fundraising institution in 2010, while Pacific (2009) and UC Davis (2008) raised the most money the previous two years. The nine Big West schools raised more than \$11,000 in 2010.

SECOND-HALF TENSION: The Titans are only 7-4 when leading at the half. In three of those wins it took a last-second reprieve to salvage a win after blowing a significant lead; vs. UCSB it took a late 19-5 surge to overcome blowing a 14-point advantage and vs. UCI on Thursday night it took a 17-11 finish for the 6-point win after a 10-point lead at intermission. At USD on Nov. 1, the lead was 55-48 with about 7 minutes to play before USD had a 10-0 run only to eventually miss three shots in the paint to take a lead in the final five seconds and then miss a trey at the buzzer to tie. Vs. Pacific on Dec. 30, the Titans led, 51-39 at 5:16 only to go scoreless until Devon Peltier's tie-breaking, lucky bounce 3-pointer with 00.4 on the clock. At Riverside on Jan. 8, the lead was 73-68 with six seconds to go but UCR tied it on a 3-pointer and two foul shots stemming from a technical foul for a "sixth" timeout. Fullerton also saw all but 2 points of a 10-point lead disappear in the final 44 seconds vs. Long Beach State on Jan. 19 and all of a 10-point edge disappeared before beating UCI. Fullerton is 2-11 when trailing at the half, rallying only vs. Cal State Bakersfield and at UC Riverside.

LINEUP DIVERSITY: Thanks primarily to healing joints, the Titans have been able to settle on a regular starting lineup. Through the first 14 games, the Titans utilized 10 different starting combinations, due in great part to the delayed arrivals of Jer'Vaughn Johnson and Andre Hardy, not to mention the absence of any returning starters other than Johnson from 2009-10. But the combo of Webster, Peltier, Chin, Hardy and Johnson has started nine times including the last eight games. All five "regular" starters plus Isiah Umipig have been the team's leading scorer (or tied) in at least one game: Peltier 8, Johnson 6, Chin 5, Webster 3, Hard 2, Umipig 1.

TITAN PLAYER THUMBNAILS:
Orlando Brown - had his best game of season on Feb. 5 vs. UCR with 11 points on 5-for-5 at the line and 2-for-3 at the arc and total FGs... helped slow down Phil Martin in second half (6 points vs. 20 in first half)... playing time has diminished with the arrivals of first Jer'Vaughn Johnson and later Andre Hardy... he played total of 42 minutes in back-to-back games vs. UoP and at UCI but only 25 minutes total over the next 4 games... started first 8 games of the season... twice has grabbed 9 boards in a game... usually guards opponents' top scoring threat... scored 11 points vs. Cal State Bakersfield on Nov. 27 and 10 in Bakersfield on Jan. 25... hit a big trey in the second half vs. Long Beach on Jan. 19.

Orane Chin - team's fortunes have ridden on his shoulders the last six games... Big West Player of the Week (Jan. 17-23) for his efforts in wins vs. Long Beach State and UCSB but struggled following week on the road, averaging 3.5 points on 3-for-17 (.176) shooting in losses at Bakersfield and Long Beach... bounced back on Feb. 3 with double-double and pivotal 3-point play with 33 seconds to go vs. UCI but then was 2-for-8 FGs for only 8 points and 1 rebound vs. UCR on Feb. 5... was one rebound shy of a double-double in the win over the 49ers on Jan. 19 with 12 points and 9 rebounds... on Jan. 22 he led team with 18 points vs. UCSB, scoring 11 unanswered points late in the first half to erase an early UCSB advantage and his free throws at 3:15 put the Titans ahead to stay, 51-50... scored career-high 32 points at Portland State on 13-of-22 shooting (4 of 7 treys)... made the Rainbow Classic all-tournament team, averaging 22.7 ppg and 6.0 rpg.

Roger Guardia - has played only 7 minutes in last six games, all at Long Beach... after 6 scoreless games, scored 6 first-half points at Cal State Northridge on Jan. 15... he averaged 19 minutes over five games between Nov. 30 to Dec. 18 but has played a total of only 83 minutes in last 13 games... grabbed 9 rebounds at Montana and against USD had 14 points including 4-for-4 from 3-point line... started at Arizona.

Andre Hardy - in 12 games since returning from ankle surgery is averaging just under a double-double at 11.6 ppg and 9.0 rpg... scored what proved to be the winning bucket vs. Long Beach State on Jan. 19 with layup for 88-82 lead with 13 seconds remaining... after a rusty first half vs. Montana on Dec. 22 (in first game action since March, 2009, in the NCAA Tournament for Oral Roberts), had 11 points and 8 rebounds after intermission to post only the third double-double (11 pts., 11 rebs.) by a Titan this season... almost did it again vs. UC Davis with team-high 19 points and 9 rebounds in a starting role and had 17 points and 9 boards vs. Pacific before being ejected for "fighting" with 2:57 to play... missed game at UCI but came back with second double-double (14 pts., 10 rebs.) at UCR on Jan. 8 and had a third with 12 points and 10 boards at Cal Poly on Jan. 13... just missed again with 12 points, 9 rebounds on Feb. 3 vs. UC Irvine.

Jer'Vaughn Johnson - only returning starter from last year...strained knee ligament in early practice session; released to practice again on Nov. 18 and debuted with 13 minutes off the bench at USC on Nov. 24... has been most consistent Titan player... ranks close second in Big West to CSUN's Lenny Daniel (.587) in field-goal percentage at .578... went 6-for-7 at Bakersfield on Jan. 25... was 6-for-8 Thursday night vs. UCI and 4-for-6 vs. UCR... had arguably best game of Titan career on Jan. 19 vs. Long Beach, one point and one rebound shy of his career highs with 22 points and 13 rebounds in 34 minutes against the athletic 49ers... made all 7 shots and all 5 free throws in 19-point game at Portland State before fouling out with 1:16 to play... has shot only .400 (18 for 45) vs. twin-towered USC, Montana and UCSB but is at .633 (90 for 142) against all others.

Steve Jurich - has not played in past six games and has played total of only 35 minutes vs. Big West competition... averaged 8 points and 2.5 rebounds in two starts in Hawai'i before back problem sidelined him... came off the bench at San Diego and played 21 minutes with 5 points and 5 rebounds... had season-high 7 rebounds at Montana... started again vs. Occidental.

Sedric Martin - had 8 points in 7 minutes of play at Long Beach State last Saturday... had season-high 5 rebounds in 11 minutes at UC Irvine on Jan. 5 after not playing at all in two previous games... got 5 more boards at Cal Poly on Jan. 13... got first start at USC and made 6-of-9 shots against the Trojans' twin 6-10 towers and scored 13 points... hit two free throws at 3:39 to tie Hawai'i game at 70-70.

Devon Peltier - has managed only 20 shots over last 3 games to average 8.7 points... but was "go-to" man down stretch vs. UCR, scoring 6 points in final 6 possessions (Brown also scored and 2 offensive foul calls)... leads team in minutes played at 774 (32.2 mpg average) and only man to start all 24 games... leads Big West in free-throw percentage at .904... began week No. 14 in the nation... 34-for-36 (.944) at the line in Big West play... hit game-winning trey in final second to beat Pacific on Dec. 30... led the Titans with 15 points at USC and 20 at Montana and in between was most of the Titans' offense in the second half at San Diego, scoring 14 of his career and game-high 24 points... led team with 19 at Arizona, making 4 of 6 treys.

Isiah Umipig - after five relatively quiet games (18 total pts. on 7-of-22 FGs) after the first UCR game he had 12 points at Long Beach State, leading second-half rally, and 19 to lead the team on Feb. 3 vs. UCI... had back-to-back breakout performances four weeks ago... led desperate rally at UCI on Jan. 5 by scoring 16 points in final 6 minutes for season-high 19 points (5-of-5 FGs, 5-of-5 FTs)....started for injured Perry Webster at UCR on Jan. 8 and scored 19 again including 7 in first 4 minutes of second half to almost erase 8-point deficit and then back-to-back buckets in final five minutes when UCR had pulled within a point... "saved the game" for the Titans per Coach Burton vs. Occidental... came off bench to score 13 of his then season-high 15 points before intermission.

Perry Webster - leads Big West in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.49 to 1.0 (117 to 47) despite 12 assists vs. 16 turnovers over last 4 games... led team with 15 points on Feb. 5 vs. UCR including back-to-back treys 24 seconds apart for 52-44 lead at 13:19... clutch down stretch at home vs. Long Beach and UCSB, scoring 7 points in 9-4 CSF run that produced 83-74 lead at 0:55 vs. the 49ers and hitting trey to beat the shot clock for 58-50 lead over UCSB at 0:35... after scoreless game at USC came back for season-high 17 points vs. Cal State Bakersfield and matched that vs. Occidental... matched it again -- all in the second half -- at CSUN on Jan. 15... had 10 assists in double-double with 10 points at Portland State... scored only 5 points at San Diego but they turned a 58-55 deficit into a 60-58 lead on back-to-back possessions (2 free throws and a trey around his steal).

Eric Williams - walk-on played solid 19 minutes on Jan. 8 in win at UC Riverside and made big trey in second half vs. Long Beach State... got season-high 5 points at CSUN on Jan. 15... got first career start at San Diego as Titans went "big," starting him (6-3) in place of 6-1 Umipig, who had started against Montana State... hit first trey of season vs. Occidental... started again on Dec. 28 vs. UC Davis.